Empires, Imperialism
Myth vs Reality
Libertarians and isolationists have complained - the United States (US) should not be the world’s policeman. But if the US is not, someone else dominates. What is the cost of the US not being the world’s policeman? Yet, if the US is to be the world policeman, how to pay for it? This is why Trump is pushing tariffs.
The movie Avatar is beautiful, but the plot line is the most cliched and false plot ever known: empires imposing colonization on supposedly peaceful primitives with brutality. Reality was most often the opposite. Tribalism and superstition often ruled, resulting in barbaric practices and poverty. Empires, however, brought stability, standardization, and prosperity.
Imagine today, a man dies, leaving his wife a widow. And we take his wife and set her on fire and burn her to death. The practice is called Sati (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)) and was common in India. The practice was ended by the British in 1829 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65311042). If you think this is too wild of a concept to ever been practiced, India created new criminal laws to end the practice after a widow was set on fire in 1987 at the age of 18 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roop_Kanwar).
Ayn Rand said it best: Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. But how do you make such a civilization last? Democracies fail. Empires fail to last. Monarchs become tyrants. Republics can fail. What of posterity?
After much war, what the English accomplished with their Bill of Rights of 1689 paved the path for divided government as well as Constitutional governance, the rule of law. And Montesquieu advocated for such divided government. This influenced British colonies, particularly in the Americas, where the United States was created, and you already know the rest of that. The result is humane governing which fosters prosperity for this generation and future generations. The United States is a Republic and a mighty Republic at that.
Still, some insist most primitives are peaceful. Billions have read the story of Abraham and Isaac and are inspired by Abraham's acceptance of God, but they miss something. Abraham was going to kill his son as a sacrifice! What horrific justification did he have for even thinking that?!?!? Quick! Pick up your smartphone and call the police or child protection services! Yes, I know how the story goes, but I am not looking at the literal words. Whomever sat down to write these words was making it clear: the God of Abraham was not accepting of child sacrifice, which was a common practice of pagan religions of the times.
Yes, governments have been abusive at times and war has resulted but utopia was never a real option. We are fortunate to live in prosperous times where we can still influence governments towards prosperity. At the same time, we should be cognitive to the very existence of primitive tribal minds in today’s world.